22_HDFC534

With a close study of the HDFC and HPD make-up of vicinity, coupled with a detailed study on the race and ethnic make up of its neighborhood, this project stands as a new form of #equity in the East Village. Made up of multiple interventions that span horizontally and vertically, HDFC 534 #advocates for #adaptability within housing, zoning, and planning contexts. Located in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan previously an “undesirable” area through “redlining” – a racist Great Depression era policy – which divided the city into several zones of differing “desirable-ness” based on segregationist mechanisms.

As a result, the neighborhood received much lower funding and maintenance from the city, which left its built environment to degrade. Over time, however, community members in the neighborhood have come together under Housing Development Fund Corporation (HDFC) Cooperatives, and #repaired , #reorganized and #reinvested in the houses, apartments, and public areas of the neighborhood. Just North of the politically historic Tompkins Square Park, the project both embodies and argues for the preservation and promotion of the spirit and typology fostered in community-driven and shaped built environments. Once a six-storey walk-up tenement building, the units on the upper floors were undesirable for those with mobility constraints, which prevented elderly community members from residing in those units. With the addition of an elevator however, each unit in the building became equally accessible, allowing for the building to potentially also become a NORC. (Naturally Occurring Retirement Community).